I hate stereotypes! Everyone expects my boys to be very boyish... Well, on the contrary, Sam likes girlier things. He loooves My Little Pony right now and wants to buy all the figurines at the store. He also wants me to paint his finger nails at some point this summer because mama has hers done (he wants to copy!)... as for Eli, I think he will be the opposite. He is rough and tumbly. He is into everything. So really, boy or girl child makes no difference. They will go to what they want to go to. I will let my boys play with "girl things" and if I have girls, I will let them play with trucks, dirt and other "boyish" things. I was a cars and trucks girl... still am. Never was one to play Barbie :p

_________________~SARAH~

“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.”

I'm so over stereotypes that I get a little obnoxious about it. I'm really sick of hearing what my kid should or should not like or do. Someone harped on Silas and his doll the other day until I finally said "He loves babies. That's an excellent quality in a man. I'd be failing him and society if I taught him babies are for girls only."

Going through this a second time so spaced out has really made my tolerance low for the nonsense.

I hate stereotypes! Everyone expects my boys to be very boyish... Well, on the contrary, Sam likes girlier things. He loooves My Little Pony right now and wants to buy all the figurines at the store. He also wants me to paint his finger nails at some point this summer because mama has hers done (he wants to copy!)... as for Eli, I think he will be the opposite. He is rough and tumbly. He is into everything. So really, boy or girl child makes no difference. They will go to what they want to go to. I will let my boys play with "girl things" and if I have girls, I will let them play with trucks, dirt and other "boyish" things. I was a cars and trucks girl... still am. Never was one to play Barbie :p

My five-year-old LOVES My Little Pony too, as well as the nails! I used to be able to paint them, and he always wanted me to do his too. (Now I don't, because I'm back to work and it's not allowed by dress code.)

_________________when you realise how perfect everything is, you will tilt you head back and laugh at the sky. -buddha

random but...sleeping in just your nappy weather is awesome. I clothed Freya to take her to the park today and when we came home and changed her nappy, I said that i was going to take her socks off. She says (nodding yes vigorously) "shirt...off...shirt..off". Well, why the hell not? "Pants..off...shirt...off..socks...off!" One happy nearly naked baby.

This is pretty forking random but: we convinced the Magician to eat noodles for the first time yesterday. Normally we're lucky if he takes one bite and then spits it back out... Then yesterday, out of the blue, he ate a TON of spaghetti.

Oh hey, also: the Emperor (almost 4) also loves My Little Pony. And nail polish. And perfume. The other night I successfully bribed him to let me brush his teeth by telling him he could put a little perfume on before bed if he did.

I'm really sick of hearing what my kid should or should not like or do. Someone harped on Silas and his doll the other day until I finally said "He loves babies. That's an excellent quality in a man. I'd be failing him and society if I taught him babies are for girls only."

I love this so much. You are my retort hero!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

random but...sleeping in just your nappy weather is awesome. I clothed Freya to take her to the park today and when we came home and changed her nappy, I said that i was going to take her socks off. She says (nodding yes vigorously) "shirt...off...shirt..off". Well, why the hell not? "Pants..off...shirt...off..socks...off!" One happy nearly naked baby.

Yes! This was the first month of westiebaby's life and I loved it, so easy!

On the gender stereotypes thing, I actively avoid dressing my daughter in obviously 'girl' clothes and really hope she can grow up doing what she wants to do, not what society says a little girl 'should' do. The only babies we know are one friend's son who is 10 weeks younger, and the babies from our antenatal classes, all of whom [7 or 8] are boys, so it will be interesting to see if/when any 'differences' between them start to show. I just want to let her be herself!

Rep. Phil Gingrey, our Georgia representative from Marietta (and a medical doctor to boot), wants elementary school students to learn all about gender stereotypes so there won't be any confusion when they grow up about boys and girls and how they can only love and marry people of the opposite sex.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

And I totally didn't mean to imply there was anything wrong at all with dressing girls in pink etc, just that for myself I avoid it as much as I can, mostly so our interactions with others won't centre around whether she's going to be a princess or a ballerina...

I totally agree! I think its great to do a lot of gender-neutral colors and that was definitely my preference too, but its interesting that even decked out in pink and flowers, L doesn't really fall into any gendered stereotypes/roles at this point. I wonder if most kids are the same - they are just into whatever they see around them, its only later that we encourage or discourage them from other interests.

Its so interesting - she loves basketball (pretty much all balls), books, cats, trains, people and all manner of destruction pretty organically - and we don't push her in either direction (well, we do push her unsuccessfully against destruction). I'd like to foster an appreciation for art and music, though. I'd love her to be a well-rounded person - someone who can change their own oil or at least understands how their car works and also enjoys art and music and reading, someone who likes to travel and enjoys food like we do. I can't even begin to think where those things would fall on the "gendered" spectrum (well except the car stuff :)).

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

random but...sleeping in just your nappy weather is awesome. I clothed Freya to take her to the park today and when we came home and changed her nappy, I said that i was going to take her socks off. She says (nodding yes vigorously) "shirt...off...shirt..off". Well, why the hell not? "Pants..off...shirt...off..socks...off!" One happy nearly naked baby.

This has been Malka's whole life, except for a few weeks during her first winter when we were dumb and didn't realize how damn hot it gets lying between two sweaty adults at night. She takes after my husband, also, who we call the Space Heater.

Beetroot tried to breastfeed Vax! He insisted he had milk and everything. It was so sweet. I had to explain that pretty much only moms could make milk, but that Vax appreciated the offer.

I'm jealous of you guys with warm weather! I know I'm asking for crappy weather by living in Scotland, but it'd be nice if it were warm enough for Vax to just wear a diaper indoors. He had his sweater on yesterday!

On the gender, thing, I've nannied for two sets of boy girl toddler twins, and in both sets, the girl is louder, more active and more aggressive. Also there has been absolutely no difference in preferences for dolls, trucks and whatever else is considered gendered when all of those things are available. Dolls (and stuffed animals which they also call baby) and trucks, in addition to duplos, are pretty much the favorite toys of both twins I take care of right now.

_________________"No one with hair so soft and glossy could ever be bad at anything." - Tofulish

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

Beet trying to nurse Vax sounds soooo sweet!!!!!

my husband is the baby temperature police!! he's so strict about blankets on her. it could be 300 degrees outside and he would have her bundled.

its hot and humid here right now and last night we were putting her down and she had a onesie on and was swaddled and i said i didnt think she needed anohter blanket on top because it was so hot and he was like ARE YOU GONNA PUT A BLANKET ON WHEN YOU GO TO BED! he very firmly follows the "one more layer than you" rule.i said i was gonna put a sheet over me but not for temperature purposes but because it makes me feel safe at night.

so yeah she ended up with a blankie on her too ;-)no nakey babies around here!!

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

i kinda go by how her fingers and toes feel. if those are cold then it's time to bundle otherwise she's good. she's always a furnace and i still have wicked post partum hot flashes so otherwise it's impossible to tell!

CC, for what it's worth, we had nice weather for about 2 1/2 days. It's not bad though..when it's super sunny, everything gets crowded. When the temp drops a few degrees, we don't have to queue for the swing at the playground. Seriously, people living in England their whole freaking lives and ain't never heard of a sweater (or jumper rather). Unless it is ark-building weather, we are outside every day. Otherwise, I would surely have been put in the home by now.

LP, we learned, in school, to go by core temperature (that is, feel her chest/tummy or back). Fingers and toes are often misleading, it seems.

random but...sleeping in just your nappy weather is awesome. I clothed Freya to take her to the park today and when we came home and changed her nappy, I said that i was going to take her socks off. She says (nodding yes vigorously) "shirt...off...shirt..off". Well, why the hell not? "Pants..off...shirt...off..socks...off!" One happy nearly naked baby.

Yes! This was the first month of westiebaby's life and I loved it, so easy!

On the gender stereotypes thing, I actively avoid dressing my daughter in obviously 'girl' clothes and really hope she can grow up doing what she wants to do, not what society says a little girl 'should' do. The only babies we know are one friend's son who is 10 weeks younger, and the babies from our antenatal classes, all of whom [7 or 8] are boys, so it will be interesting to see if/when any 'differences' between them start to show. I just want to let her be herself!

We do the same with clothes. F. Mostly wears trousers, dark colours, stuff that people think is reserved for boys. People usually assume she is a boy. I hardly correct them. Recently we had terribly warm weather. So I gave her a dress to wear. And I was really shocked how differently people treated her. The worst was that everyone commented on her appearance. They told her how cute and beautiful she was. Even strangers. And it was just a simple red dress with polkadots. That never happened before. Usually people comment on what she does and not on how she looks.

I totally agree! I think its great to do a lot of gender-neutral colors and that was definitely my preference too, but its interesting that even decked out in pink and flowers, L doesn't really fall into any gendered stereotypes/roles at this point. I wonder if most kids are the same - they are just into whatever they see around them, its only later that we encourage or discourage them from other interests.

Its so interesting - she loves basketball (pretty much all balls), books, cats, trains, people and all manner of destruction pretty organically - and we don't push her in either direction (well, we do push her unsuccessfully against destruction). I'd like to foster an appreciation for art and music, though. I'd love her to be a well-rounded person - someone who can change their own oil or at least understands how their car works and also enjoys art and music and reading, someone who likes to travel and enjoys food like we do. I can't even begin to think where those things would fall on the "gendered" spectrum (well except the car stuff :)).

They are into what is around them, I agree.. F. Loves cars, trains, trams because they are everywhere and we use the train and the tram every day. We explained her all the vehicles we see.

With the experiences I made (posted right above) I think it's their environment who pushes them into those stereotypes. I made the experience that she is treated way more neutral when people think she is a boy. That is one of the reasons why we don't dress her in pink. (We also mostly use hand-me-downs or trift store stuff.) I am not saying everyone should do this though. I am saying that it is a shame that kids cannot wear pink or a dress without being reduced to their appearance and without being confronted with stereotypes about female beauty.

So we are in a hotel room tonight. I guess I'm an idiot because I didn't think ahead and realize that babynut goes to sleep at 7:30. What do we do? I'm sitting in the dark playing with my phone and my partner is hanging out in the bathroom. And I forgot to pack her white noise machine so I expect she will be up next time I shuffle my feet. Fun times!